Your Employment Brand Is Happening With or Without You

Let’s start with a truth that’s both liberating and uncomfortable: your employment brand exists whether you manage it or not. 

Every Glassdoor review, every LinkedIn post from an employee, every candidate interview—each is a reflection of who you are as an employer. You can either shape that perception intentionally or let it evolve by default. And if you’re not actively defining it, someone else is. 

TalenTrust CEO Kathleen Quinn Votaw wrote in her book Solve the People Puzzle that company culture, like it or not, always exists. “You can have a culture by design or by default,” she explains. The same goes for your employment brand—the sum total of what employees, candidates, and even customers believe it’s like to work for you. 

Your employment brand is gold. It influences who applies for your roles, who stays, and how deeply people engage in your mission. The question isn’t whether you have an employment brand—it’s whether you’re managing it. 

The Cost of Neglecting Your Brand 

In today’s transparent, interconnected workplace, silence isn’t neutral—it’s damaging. If your organization isn’t telling its story, your employees, candidates, and even former team members are telling it for you. In the absence of information, people tend to make up their own stories.  

Research from Harvard Business Review shows that a poor employer reputation can increase hiring costs by as much as 10% per hire. Meanwhile, Glassdoor data reveals that 86% of job seekers research company reviews and ratings before applying. 

Your employment brand can either be your greatest recruiting and retention asset, or your most costly liability. The good news is that every leader, no matter their starting point, can take charge of it. 

Learn more about human-centered design as Kathleen and Amelia Dunlop, Chief Experience Officer at Deloitte Digital discuss her approach to building trust through empathy, inclusivity, and innovation that transforms organizations and the stakeholder experience.

7 Steps to Building an Intentional Employment Brand 

The foundation of a strong employment brand is trust—and trust is built from the inside out. Recent research highlights a concerning trend—employee engagement has dropped to its lowest level since the pandemic, leading to costly consequences for businesses. Here’s a practical framework for understanding, improving, and amplifying your employee experience so your organization becomes what Josh Bersin calls a Simply Irresistible Organization—a workplace people don’t just join, but stay and thrive in.

1. Listen Intentionally and Consistently

Start by understanding where you stand today. Conduct quarterly employee experience surveys that measure satisfaction, trust, and engagement across teams. 

Use both quantitative metrics (like Employee Net Promoter Score) and qualitative feedback to get a clear picture of what’s working—and what’s not. 

But remember: asking for feedback is only the first step. Listening without acting can actually damage trust.

Read Between the Lines

Don’t just collect data—interpret it. Look for patterns that point to deeper truths. 

For example, if you see lower scores in “communication” or “leadership trust,” those aren’t isolated problems. They’re signals about how safe people feel being honest, how decisions are communicated, and whether your leaders are visible and authentic. 

As Forbes notes, true employee listening means “understanding what employees mean, not just what they say.” 

3. Close the Loop

Once you’ve gathered and analyzed feedback, it’s time to act. And don’t forget to communicate back! Employees want to know their input leads to real change. 

Hold company-wide or team-level meetings to share top findings and the steps you’re taking in response. Even if you can’t address every issue immediately, transparency builds credibility and trust. When people see their feedback leads to meaningful action, engagement naturally rises. 

4. Align Your Culture with Your Values

Your stated values should be more than words on a wall. They should be the behaviors your team sees and experiences every day. 

Review your values through the lens of your survey results. Are they alive in how you hire, promote, and reward? If not, it’s time to recalibrate. 

Culture by design means holding yourself accountable to live those values—especially when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable. They are your non-negotiables. 

5. Empower Your Managers

Managers are the front lines of your employment brand. Gallup consistently finds that they account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement. 

Train your managers to coach, not command. Encourage them to have regular one-on-one conversations, practice empathy, and connect each team member’s work to the organization’s purpose. When employees trust their managers, your employment brand strengthens from within. 

6. Tell Your Story Authentically

Once you’ve strengthened your internal culture, it’s time to tell your story externally. 

Collaborate with your marketing and talent acquisition teams to showcase authentic stories from real employees. Feature them on your website, LinkedIn, and recruitment campaigns. 

Highlight your purpose, values, and unique benefits—but make sure every claim is backed by lived reality. A misaligned message erodes credibility faster than no message at all. 

Leverage third-party recognition, like Great Place to Work®, to validate your efforts. Social proof matters—to candidates and customers alike. 

7. Commit to Continuous Improvement

Building an irresistible employment brand isn’t a one-time project—it’s an ongoing promise. 

Regularly measure progress using key metrics like engagement, turnover, candidate experience scores, and Glassdoor ratings. Share those results openly and keep improving. 

As Josh Bersin emphasizes in his Simply Irresistible Organization model, great cultures are built on “growth, purpose, and belonging.” These qualities aren’t static—they evolve as your business and workforce do. 

When you commit to continuous improvement, your brand becomes magnetic. 

A Culture by Design, Not Default 

Your employment brand is happening—with or without you. Every day, your people are shaping the narrative through their words, their work, and their willingness to recommend you to others. 

You can leave that to chance, or you can take charge. 

At TalenTrust, we believe the most successful organizations are the ones that dare to care—about their people, their culture, and the stories that define them. 

When you invest in trust and authenticity, you don’t just attract great people. You keep them. You inspire them. And you build something truly irresistible.